North Dakota Booms

Click to enlargeOccasionally this blog likes to stray from politics and explore the good news that is out there. In an earlier post the Marcellus Shale formation and the promised cheap energy it holds were examined. In future posts we may examine the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana, the Barnett Shale in Texas, or the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. The point is there are trillions upon trillion of cubic feet of natural gas now available because of the new technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fraking). While Washington has stymied exploration for oil and gas in the Baltimore Canyon, just a few hundred miles from DC, from the Ellwood Oil Field off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, from the Cook Inlet and Anwar in Alaska, clever drillers have discovered other riches.

Williston, North Dakota is home to more than 350 oil service companies. With a population of 14,716 according to the 2010 census it seems extreme that it would issue 99 permits for single family homes through May of this year. But extreme is the new normal for North Dakota. The other statistic that makes local hearts beat fast is the number 200. Last week the total number of drilling rigs working in North Dakota reached 200 up from 15 in 2001. The Bakken Shale formation, like the Marcellus shale formation, holds a bounty of natural gas but the Bakken holds more. Unlike its northeastern cousin the Bakken also holds oil.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil and 1.85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The 1995 estimate was 150 million barrels of oil.

Presently because of the price of oil, drillers in the Bakken have focused on it rather than natural gas. Unlike traditional Texas gushers familiar to generations of movie goers, shale oil seeps. It must be pumped to the surface. It's held in on site storage tanks, then moved by truck to central storage depots and eventually transported by pipe line or rail to the refineries. Aside from the employment directly associated with drilling a sizeable work force must be employed in machine shops, motor shops, trucking sales and service, heavy equipment service, and housing. Yes, housing in North Dakota is booming with some home owners experiencing double digit appreciation of their home values while the rest of the country frets about declining home prices. While optimism may be out of vogue don't tell the good people of Williston. Oh to be 21 and single again!